Gear up for summer with these 7 must-have tech gadgets

I totally love the summer! Its one of my favorite seasons. Since it's in full swing, I wanted to share some digital gear to make it great — no matter what you are up to.

Protection

iSwimBand: When you think of summer, immediately images of the pool, beach and vacations come to mind. But unsupervised swimming is one thing that can be a serious source of anxiety for parents with infants, toddlers, or even just young swimmers. An unsupervised toddler in the pool, even for just a minute, can end in tragedy. The iSwimBand is a sensor that slips into a custom headband or bracelet and connects to your Apple device wirelessly to alert you if your child is in the water or if they've been submerged for too long. This is a must have if you are a parent with a pool, take your kids to the swim club or regularly go to the beach.

June by Netatmo: When summer hits, it also brings with it the power of the sun. For many people exposure to the sun can become very dangerous and according to the American Cancer Society, skin cancer is the most common of all cancer types. That’s why it’s important for everyone to be mindful of their sun exposure and to protect themselves this summer. A new way to do that is with a piece of wearable tech by Netatmo called June. The June is a pretty piece of wearable jewelry that you can wear as a pendant or on your wrist and it connects via Bluetooth to your iPhone and alerts you about your levels of sun exposure and gives you additional info about how intense the rays are.

Travel

Grid-it!: July and August are the perfect months for summer travel, and a few accessories for Mom and Dad can really make everything more enjoyable. Whenever I go anywhere, I’ve got a Grid-it! Organizer in my backpack or suitcase to organize everything I have. These durable, mesh organizers keep all of my electronic devices, charging cords, pens, odds and ends, and even the kid’s stuff neatly organized. Plus, Grid-it keeps your stuff from all falling to the bottom of the backpack, purse or beach bag!

Kazoo Headphones: Traveling with kids can be difficult, especially if you have to listen to their music!!! These Kazoo Headphones are just the thing to keep everyone happy. Kids love them because they feel cool wearing headphones, and they cover your child’s ear so you won’t hear a thing. Parents will love them because they have a circuit in them that automatically limits the maximum volume, so your kids won’t be able to damage their hearing!

Sandless Beach Mat by Hammacher Schlemmer: Here’s an amazing piece of summer tech if you’re heading to the beach. The Sandless Beach Mat by Hammacher Schlemmer uses military technology to minimize the amount of sand that gets on your beach mat. The mat literally filters sand particles straight through it. In my tests I found that it works best with a fine grain of sand. If the beach you go-to has lots of small pebbles those tiny pebbles won't filter through.

Fun

Boom Swimmer: A huge part of the summer fun for me is being able to listen to music everywhere I go! Whether I'm at the beach or by the pool or cooking out on the grill. The Boom Swimmer is a Bluetooth speaker that is perfect because it’s waterproof, dustproof, and shockproof so you don’t have to worry about it flaking out or getting beat up. The speaker itself is small and it has a flexible hook making it easy to hang or a suction cup so you can stick it anywhere. It also sounds amazing and I'm a DJ, so I have good ears. It's the perfect thing to toss in your bag or car and take with you wherever you go.

Umbra's Pongo: Growing up, I loved to play ping-pong with my family. My Dad & Mom are amazing ping-pong players. The problem is where are you going to fit that huge table? That's why I'm loving Umbra's Pongo. Pongo is a portable table tennis set that you can easily set up on any smooth surface! And it's so compact and portable you can take it anywhere. Game on!

Digital Lifestyle Expert™ Mario Armstrong is an Emmy Award Winning TV Host,Hashtagologist™ and Technology Contributor to The TODAY Show. He hosts segments on HLN, the Fuse network and appears regularly on daytime TV including Steve Harvey and Dr. Oz. Read more from Mario athis blog and follow him on Twitterand on Facebook.